Netflix’s second-quarter revenue grew 13 percent and its net income jumped close to 10 percent, the company said Thursday, in line with Wall Street’s expectations.
Audiences watched 97 billion hours of content in the first half of the year, about 2 percent more than they did in the same period the year before. Netflix highlighted the mystery crime series “I Will Find You” as its best new series in the quarter and hailed a strong showing by the animated film “Swapped.”
Netflix’s stock has fluctuated widely in the past year. In December, the streaming giant made a surprise $83 billion bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery’s film and television studios, but the proposed acquisition was never a big hit with investors. Netflix’s stock was trading down about 40 percent until the company abandoned the deal in February. The stock has rebounded since then, but is still down some 20 percent this year.
The company also explained for the first time that some of its shows were designed to keep customers while others were designed to acquire them. Live events like Major League Baseball’s Home Run Derby, which Netflix broadcast this week, don’t drive many views but do encourage new users to sign up.
Netflix also explained how it was using artificial intelligence to improve the user experience with greater personalization and voice search functionality. The company also used A.I. in the production process for more than 300 titles, it said. Most of its uses were in postproduction, with the tools helping to enhance crowds and add world-building establishing shots.
In recent weeks, the company has announced a slew of deals with content creators like Alan Chikin Chow and the Stokes Twins, who have all found tremendous success on YouTube. It also said in early July that it would team up with other producers of short-form content, like traditional magazine publishers such as Condé Nast and Hearst Magazines.
In its quarterly letter to shareholders, Netflix wrote that while most of its viewership occurred in the evening, its recently launched video podcasts were being watched often during the day and on mobile devices.
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